


let me know is your heart still beating?

by livtontea



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Minor Klaus/Dave, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21655321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livtontea/pseuds/livtontea
Summary: Something is wrong with Klaus, and Vanya is here to help! Or... try to. She's doing her best.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 16
Kudos: 157





	let me know is your heart still beating?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ProfJamie20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfJamie20/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY CON I LOVE YOU I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS!!!
> 
> i got tired at the end,, and so that part is rushed but!! be gay for vanya, like twas intended. <333
> 
> title from [Human by The Killers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4jR9P9YJGo)

Vanya decides that Klaus needs her help. Of course, this isn't a spontaneous decision—if it were Klaus himself in her place, chances are it would be—but a series of little moments that build up higher and higher until Vanya can look at her brother and envision a giant sign above his head. Knowing Klaus, it probably has something really really serious written on it, and then a dick scribbled over that.

"You're being quiet," Klaus points out. "Why the long face? Did someone die?"

Vanya flinches and he winces. "Yeah, you're right. Too soon?"

Klaus' eyes look tired. He, generally, looks tired. That's a problem, because if there's anything Vanya knows Klaus hates, it's being tired.

"No, no, it's alright," she says. "I just wasn't expecting it. Um… Just thinking."

"Ohhh," Klaus says, leaning back into the couch and crossing his arms. He's tapping his foot on the floor, his bare skin slapping against the hardwood in a way Vanya knows only she can hear. It grates on her ears, a little bit. “Thinking. Smart.” He chuckles at his own joke, or whatever that’s called.

“...Thanks.” Vanya fiddles with her fingers. 

“No problemo,” Klaus says, and throws his head onto the back of the couch, closing his eyes. Vanya keeps fidgeting.

You wouldn’t know, but the air is constantly filled with noise. And that means  _ constantly. _ There’s always somebody tapping or a fly buzzing or the wind blowing the curtains back and forth. There is always noise that nobody can hear.

Vanya can. It gets too loud, sometimes. It’s fine. She’s not used to it now, not yet, but with time it should fade away to background noise, or she’ll just learn to tune it out, Five speculates. For now, though, it’s always there, itching at the back of her mind.

Playing the violin helps. Vanya finds that holding a bow is harder now. Every time she runs her fingers over the horsehair, she can feel blood soaking into her skin. Allison’s screams echo in her ears.

It’s fine. She’s going to get used to it. 

Klaus wrinkles his nose. “Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” All she can smell is the usual scent of the mansion, old and moist and dusty, and then Mom cooking something in the kitchen.

“Oh. Must be just me.” He grins to himself, and the smile misses happy by a mile. He looks like he has a secret, a giant soul-crushing secret that even he doesn’t know everything about, a secret that eats him from the inside, a secret that—

Fuck. Vanya can relate.

“...Are you.” She cuts off. “Are you okay?”

“Of course! Why would I not be?” Klaus’ tired eyes turn to her. They’re open now, green meeting brown. 

“...I don’t know. It’s dumb, I’m sorry. Forget I asked.”

“Alright.”

She stays silent, and soon enough he gets up, stretching, and announces that he need to find something to fill his stomach. Vanya watches him go. She stays pressed into the corner of the couch for a little longer, thinking.

Yeah. Klaus may not think so—may not know it, even—but he needs her help.

***

Her first attempt is direct. Too direct. 

Klaus is in the kitchen, picking at a plate of waffles and yammering away. He gestures and he feints stabs and parries as he tells his story. The food remains almost untouched. It’s just them at the table—the others are busy, in one way or another. 

“You’re not eating,” Vanya says. Her plate is already cleared and in the sink. 

“Yes I am,” he replies. “I have my food right in front of me.”

Vanya shakes her head. “You’re still not eating.”

“Vanya. I say this with love, but shut up.”

He finishes his waffles and leaves.

Okay. Okay, that— Okay. She has to be subtle, then. Okay. She can do that. Klaus needs her help.

***

She can’t do this. Holy crap, she cannot do this. Klaus is too evasive and misleading and seriously can’t he cooperate for one goddamn second  _ please. _

It’s fine. She’s fine. It’s all good. 

Klaus bounces a tennis ball of his ceiling and yelps when it rockets straight at him. Vanya sighs. The ball is suspended in midair. She flicks her fingers and shakily, it lowers down on the bed.

“Why did you do that?”

Klaus frowns. “I thought it would work.”

“You’re gonna get hurt.”

“It’s just a tennis ball, Vanya. It can’t hurt me.”

“You want to test that?” The tennis ball hovers menacingly.

“Wait, no, don’t—”

She throws it at his chest, and he catches it. With his own powers. He can do that now, right. Cool. This is fine.

“Ha!” Klaus exclaims. “I did it! Take that, Ben.”

“Ben’s here?”

“Well yeah.” Klaus nods to the corner of the room. “He’s reading—” Klaus squints. “—Anna Karenina? Dude, you’re so lame. I’m lame? Shut the fuck up, Ben.”

“It’s not a bad book,” Vanya says. “You should give it try, if you want.”

“Yeah, but he’s reading it in  _ Russian. _ God, what a nerd.”

Huh. 

Since when did Ben know Russian? Vanya doesn’t even know anything outside of a few choppy sentences, and she’s the only one who was born in Russia.

“Me knowing German doesn’t make me a nerd!  _ You take that back.” _

Huh.

***

Okay.

Vanya decides, the best course of action—talk to Klaus one on one. But don’t be direct. Make sure he doesn’t want to run. Alright. She can do this.

Somehow she ends up knocking on Klaus’ door, which was  _ definitely _ not part of the plan.

Somehow, she ends up saying, “Is Ben here?”

And somehow, somehow, Klaus looks at her weird, but says, “No,” immediately followed up with “Why?”

Vanya exhales. “I, uh. I wanted to talk to you. Alone.”

Klaus’ eyes widen. “Vanya, did you kill somebody.”

“Wh— No! I didn’t kill anybody!” Klaus opens his mouth again, so she adds, “I didn’t commit any crimes, Klaus.”

“Oh. So… You’re finally telling me you’re gay?”

Vanya sputters. “What? I— No, no, that’s not why I want to talk to you, and what do you mean,  _ finally? _ ”

Klaus shrugs. “Well, are you?”

“...Yes. But that’s not the point! Just— Can I come in?”

Klaus silently steps aside, letting her into his room. Vanya stands in the middle of it awkwardly while he sits down on his bed.

“So?”

She…

She honestly didn’t think she’d get this far. Okay. Deep breaths. 

Her brain decides now would be a good time to throw her under a hundred fucking buses and say that it’s a good idea to blurt, “You seem sad so I wanted to try and help you and I know you think you don’t need help and you’re fine but Klaus, you’re really  _ not, _ so please tell me what’s wrong.”

Klaus gapes at her. Great going, Vanya. Very eloquent. Very clever. Why the fuck would you say that?

Klaus laughs. “Vanya, you’re amazing. Holy shit. Is that why you’ve been acting so weird?”

“I haven’t been acting weird,” defends Vanya.

Klaus keeps laughing. “Van, oh, dear sweet Vanya, sister dearest, Vanya, you—” he wheezes. “I’m flattered you care about me, really, but Vanya! Oh my god.”

“I’m sorry,” she mutters. “You’re right, I should just— I’m gonna go, I’m sorry.”

“No! No no no, it’s okay! Here, just, uh—”

Klaus takes her hand and pulls her onto the bed with him.

“You know, you’re— Yeah. You’re helping. Thank you.”

Vanya nods. “No problem.”

Klaus sighs, seeming to gather up his thoughts. His hand reaches for the dog tags that are always hanging around his neck. “You’re right, I probably need to talk about him.”

“Him?”

“His name,” Klaus smiles, “was Dave.”

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is [@seven-misfits](https://seven-misfits.tumblr.com/), and con's is [@profjamie20!](https://profjamie20.tumblr.com/)
> 
> once again, ily con i hope you have a FANTASTIC day of birth<33


End file.
